Juliana Lepore and Brittany Schafer
57 minutes ago
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — State and city leaders attended a dedication ceremony for New Haven’s new Recovery and Wellness Center on Tuesday night.
The 31,000-square-foot project has been 10 years in the making and now stands as a symbol of change and healing in the community.
“Receiving non-judgmental care in a healing environment in your own community is the gold standard,” Dana Murphy, program director at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, said at the podium. “The proximity of having everything under one roof is so important.”
The opening of this facility comes at a time when behavioral health services are needed more than ever.
“We’ve seen an increase from one in 10 people seeking medical services to four in 10 people, and overdose deaths continue to rise, especially in New Haven,” Murphy said.
According to CDC data, New Haven’s overdose death rate in 2023 was 81 per million residents, compared with a much lower state average of 28.
The new Cornell Scott Hill Health Center aims to help people being treated for substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders by providing intensive outpatient care, primary medical, dental and pediatric services, as well as short-term therapeutic living environments.
“It’s important to get people there when they’re ready to get sober,” Murphy said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvements in many of our residential programs in our state, but there are still long wait times to get in, so we want to be able to get people in the same day.”
The inpatient shelter will have 40 beds for men and 12 beds for women and can treat hundreds of outpatients. Murphy said Cornell Scott Hospital sees more than 55,000 patients a year at its 35 facilities, and a smaller curbside facility would help meet the growing demand.
“We serve 146 towns and cities across the state, so our service is certainly widespread. We have people coming from not only New Haven but the surrounding areas,” Murphy said.
Although the opening ceremony took place today, the health center said there are still some things to sort out, such as increasing staff, before it can accept patients, which is expected to begin in August.
